Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell *** (1974, Peter Cushing, Shane Briant, Madeline Smith, Dave Prowse) – Classic Movie Review 2774

It is all Hammered out and sad days at the end of an era in Terence Fisher’s 1974 British horror movie Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. But Hammer Films’ final Frankenstein film in their long-running franchise stars Peter Cushing once more and has an enjoyably silly notion about the bad Baron Victor Frankenstein (Cushing) housed in an asylum for the dangerously insane where he can continue his experiments with the creation of man and reanimating the dead.

Holding information on the asylum’s corrupt director Adolf Klauss, Frankenstein has been made a surgeon under the alias of Dr Carl Victor and given special privileges in the asylum. There a young body-experiment surgeon called Dr Simon Helder (Shane Briant) is an inmate who has been found guilty and institutionalised for conducting the same kind of experiments as his role model Frankenstein. Dr Carl Victor imperiously recruits his assistance. The Monster (Dave Prowse) the two of them create is trying to modify his anti-social behaviour, but of course soon becomes bitter and intent on revenge, embarking on a killing spree in the asylum.

Returning for the sixth and last time as Victor Frankenstein, the role he originated in 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein, Peter Cushing of course is grave and dignified in this entertaining, gory, if undistinguished farewell to the series. At age 59, Cushing looks gaunt and haggard, and wears a strange wig, but he is still full of life and incredibly nimble in bursts of movement and action. He spectacularly performs a daring stunt leaping from a tabletop onto the Creature’s back, spinning in circles to subdue the monster with a sedative. John Stratton gives an enjoyably over-the-top turn as the evil asylum director Adolf Klauss. Shane Briant, looking androgynous and tormented, has a lot to do as Peter Cushing’s co-star and does it well.

Madeline Smith has plenty of screen time but an unrewarding role as Sarah, a beautiful mute girl nicknamed Angel who assists Frankenstein, who reveals she is Klauss’s daughter and has been mute since he tried to rape her. Dave Prowse also has plenty of screen time and an unrewarding role as ape-like homicidal inmate Herr Schneider, who becomes Frankenstein’s hairy new Creature, with new hands, eyes and a new brain. In no more than extended cameos, Patrick Troughton and Charles Lloyd-Pack have some good moments as the bodysnatcher and as inmate Professor Durendel. It is a nice, friendly cast. The film is friendly too as a final farewell.

Five years after Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), Fisher was returning to Hammer for the final time after lengthy periods of recovery from injuries in two road accidents to make Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, a financial failure and his last film.

Also in the cast are Michael Ward as Transvestite, Elsie Wagstaff as Wild one, Norman Mitchell as Police Sergeant, Clifford Mollison as Judge, Patrick Troughton as Bodysnatcher, Philip Voss as Ernst, Christopher Cunningham as Hans, Charles Lloyd-Pack as Professor Durendel, Andria Lawrence as Brassy girl, Lucy Griffiths as Old hag, Bernard Lee as Tarmut, Sydney Bromley as Muller, Jerold Wells as Landlord, Sheila Dunion as Gerda, Mischa de la Motte as Twitch, Norman Atkyns as Smiler, Victor Woolf as Letch, Winifred Sabine as Mouse, Janet Hargreaves as Chatter, Peter Madden as coach driver, Norman Mitchell, Clifford Mollison and Philip Voss.

The writer is once again Anthony Hinds, hiding behind his usual pseudonym John Elder.

Briant is best known for his roles in four Hammer films: Demons of the Mind, Straight on Till Morning, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. He returned to the role of Simon Helder in the 2019 Sherlock Holmes vs. Frankenstein.

David Prowse makes his second appearance as a Frankenstein Creature, after The Horror of Frankenstein, making him the only actor to play a Hammer Frankenstein monster more than once. He was able to suit up and pull on the mask as the monster in only about 30 minutes, whereas it required several tedious hours in the make-up chair for The Horror of Frankenstein. The Horror of Frankenstein is the sixth of the seven Hammer Frankenstein films, and the only one without Cushing.

Cushing helped to design his wig, but years afterwards he said he regretted the outcome and quipped that it made him look like the American star Helen Hayes.

It was filmed at Elstree Studios in 1972 but not released until 1974,

It was released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray on 28 April 2014, with all previously censored scenes restored.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2774

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